Hiut Denim

The town of Cardigan used to be the largest producer of denim in England, making over 35,000 pairs of jeans a week. Then the textile industry changed, and the factory was shut down. David Hieatt was raised in Cardigan, and founded Hiut denim out of a love for the material and a desire to bring his home town back to its denim-making roots. As of now, the company has hired several denim “Grand Masters’”, each with 20,000 to 40,000 hours of experience making jeans, to create two styles. Buyers can pick between a slim or regular fit, and then choose between 12oz organic unwashed turkish denim or 14oz selvedge kuroki denim.

Besides quality materials and high level of craftsmanship, Hiut denim is distinguished by a few key details including one signature red owl rivet on back pocket, heavy Ecru twill pocket lining, and a coin pocket designed to fit an iPhone. Those lucky enough to purchase one of the first two hundred pairs will also receive a custom branded, individually numbered leather patch sewn on the belt line.

Since heritage is such an integral part of the brand, each pair of Hiut’s also comes with a unique identification number, known as a “history tag”. Using this number, buyers can log into the history tag database and register their jeans, as well as submit photos and details about aging their jeans over time. If things go as planned, Hiut hopes the feature will help create a sense of personal identity and provenance to each pair, that second hand buyers can reference to see how their pair came into their hands down the road. Personally, the idea of a Facebook for our jeans seems like over-kill in a world sprouting a new social network every other minute, but for real denim addicts, it may just be the best thing to happen to the culture since Levi Strauss met Jacob Davis.

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